• by Tanya Gazdik , 7 hours ago

Social media platform Pinterest is acquiring tvScientific, a connected television advertising platform that automates and optimizes ad buying for marketers.

“The deal will help expand Pinterest's advertising business by bringing its user base of high-intent shoppers to tvScientific's CTV clients,” according to Axios, which first broke the news. 

Pinterest uses artificial intelligence to make personalized content recommendations and ads for its users that help fuel their shopping journey.

“For CTV advertisers, this type of data is extremely valuable because it allows them to target audiences in a way that's more efficient and easier to measure,” notes Axios. “Pinterest's data will let tvScientific's CTV advertising clients track sales outcomes and shopping conversions.”

The move will expand Pinterest’s promotional capacity to a broader range of surfaces and formats.

“The acquisition, which is currently pending approval, will enable Pinterest to combine its audience insights and consumer data signals with tvScientific’s CTV engine, which will provide opportunity to reach customers on their home TV sets, and measure ad results,” according to Social Media Today. “The combination of tvScientific’s models with Pinterest’s shopping data, based on engagement and behavioral patterns from 600 million active users, will empower better ad outcomes, and optimal placement across more placements.”

TVScientific, which has 160 employees, will continue to operate independently under Pinterest, and the firm will retain its branding.

“Although financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Pinterest did reveal that the transaction is subject to regulatory review, suggesting that it is valued at or above the Federal Trade Commission’s reporting threshold of $126.4 million,” according to adexchanger.com. “Pinterest buying an advertising platform shouldn’t come as too much of a shock, given that the company reportedly conducted reviews of five potential ad tech acquisitions earlier this year.

CTV, however, is a new advertising channel for Pinterest (not counting Pinterest TV, which isn’t actually television so much as it is live streaming video.)”

The market did not react favorably to the news.

“Pinterest, Inc. shares traded lower Thursday after the company unveiled a plan to expand into connected television performance advertising,” according to Benzinga.